[ljsanchez]

Hello! Newb here. I'm looking for some advice about some Mark Grace rookie cards I came across on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-Donruss-Mar...XQlgtSuP66

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-Donruss-roo...SwXyVYJi3f

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-Donruss-Mar...Swo4pYF4~F

The first 2 links are both BGS 9.5 Gem Mint. The first card is $599 and the second one is $450.

The 3 link is PSA 10 Gem Mint and $19.99 which is what is in line with all online pricing guides.

So what am I missing? Is the BGS 9.5 somehow better than the PSA 10? Why is the pricing several 100's of dollars more for Gem Mint graded cards?

I asked the sellers for more info and got this explanation from one..

"Out of 10,408 cards BGS has graded from 1988 Donruss, only (130) 9.5's exist.
Mark Grace - 1,752 graded, (10) 9.5's

The PSA Gem Mint/Graded ratio is astronomically higher.

Out of 7,468 cards PSA has graded from 1988 Donruss, (2,463) 10's exist.
Mark Grace - 393 graded, (135) 10's"

I understand they are saying that since there are 125 more PSA graded Gem Mint cards (astronomical? really?) than BGS graded Gem Mint, it justifies the price. This doesn't make sense to me. Isn't a Gem Mint a Gem Mint?

[crossada]

Population reports do influence pricing but those bgs prices are way over the top imo. I would check and see if any previously sold anywhere near that.

[deja5]

The sellers asking almost $500 are both delusional and will never sell their respective cards for anything close to that price. No matter the grade it's still overproduced junk wax era. The reason there are so few grades like that are likely because most people didn't bother to get that card graded in the first place. $19.99 Is a far more realistic price in line with the true market value for a grace rookie

[bamyanks]

I agree with crossada and deja5. No way any of the Grace cards you listed worth $450. If it were me, being a cub fan, I wouldn't pay over $25 for any of them. keep looking and you can probably find some Grace cards more in line with the price guide listings.

One thing I've learned from buying Yankee cards, don't jump on the first one you see. Cards will come around sometime for an honest price.

[jaredhuizenga]

Agree with everyone above. Personally, I prefer BGS over PSA - mostly because of the slab - but wouldn't consider anything from '88 at that price.

If you want to pull the plug right away, go for the PSA. If you're willing to wait it, you'll probably find a BGS for a lot less. Or maybe even a lot of ungraded and you could find one worth sending off yourself.

[zeprock]

... Or maybe even a lot of ungraded and you could find one worth sending off yourself.

My thinking too.

[lane2800]

you won't find a bgs 9.5 for less than that. 1700 of a single 80's card is a large amount graded with only 1/2% graded that high, and most of what's ungraded in the industry mostly ended up damaged in shoe boxes. unless you can find some pristine unopened wax/blister cases you likely won't see that number ever go much higher. cases are relatively cheap on ebay but i've gone trough several cases of both wax and blister and have only sent one of the hundreds of grace cards in and i still only got a BGS 9, if you compare that to 25% of the ones psa graded came back 10's. the value of bgs is close to what they are selling i've been watching these for a while, the only one i can recall selling went for $350 about a year ago.

[Nintari]

you won't find a bgs 9.5 for less than that. 1700 of a single 80's card is a large amount graded with only 1/2% graded that high, and most of what's ungraded in the industry mostly ended up damaged in shoe boxes. unless you can find some pristine unopened wax/blister cases you likely won't see that number ever go much higher. cases are relatively cheap on ebay but i've gone trough several cases of both wax and blister and have only sent one of the hundreds of grace cards in and i still only got a BGS 9, if you compare that to 25% of the ones psa graded came back 10's. the value of bgs is close to what they are selling i've been watching these for a while, the only one i can recall selling went for $350 about a year ago.

Having been a huge collector during the late 80's and early 90's, I have tons of cards in plastic cases that are ungraded. As a matter of fact, I have the Grace RC in question. I haven't sent any of them in and probably never will because of the up front risks and not having a lot of money to take said risks.

I'd wager there's a few other people out there in their 30's who are in my situation with ungraded cards that may or may not be 9-10's.

[DrMitchJ]

The sellers asking almost $500 are both delusional and will never sell their respective cards for anything close to that price. No matter the grade it's still overproduced junk wax era. The reason there are so few grades like that are likely because most people didn't bother to get that card graded in the first place. $19.99 Is a far more realistic price in line with the true market value for a grace rookie

+1
Let's face it, its an over produced card of a very popular, but non-HOF player. I'm certain you can find a dozen of his 1988 Donruss RR RC's for $2@ ... send the best of them off and get a 9.5 or 10. Others have done so, you can too. But for the sake of convenience ... cut to the chase and get the PSA for $20. Anything over that is as Deja5 said above "delusional"
FYI: According to some long-time forum members ... generally speaking ... BGS is a little more discerning when giving out a 10. PSA being slightly more forgiving. YMMV
Our dearly departed Nolan Ryan Supercollector, Jason (Nolan5000) would never accept anything but BGS 9.5 and 10's for his registry. He would take PSA 10s, un-slab and regrade with BGS and get 9 or 9.5's, IIRC

[djohn]

Here is my take, for what it's worth.
Based on the numbers you provided, Beckett has graded 1,752 of the 1988 Donruss Mark Grace card, and only given 10 of them a grade of 9.5. While PSA has graded 393 of the card, yet given 135 of those a grade of 10. Now a few things to consider, as these numbers seem extremely lopsided.
1) Beckett did a lot of grading for companies sending in cheap rookie cards any condition for them to market as BGS graded rookies. One big example is the 2001 Donruss product which included one BGS graded Donruss card from the past per box. Most of these cards were graded somewhere between 7 and 8, while I have seen some as low as 5 and some as high as 9. The vast majority of the cards used were cards that could be bought in bulk for $0.10 or less each. 2001 Donruss is not the only product to do this either, as there are a bunch of those repackaged boxes that promise a BGS graded superstar rookie card per box, yet most of the time the card is an overproduced late 80s to early 90s card of players like Mark Grace, Larry Walker, Jay Buhner, David Wells, etc. So one reason there are so many more BGS graded cards to begin with is because of Beckett making deals with these companies.
2) Only just over 2,000 of the 1988 Donruss Mark Grace card have been graded by either BGS or PSA. However there were millions of that card printed.
3) BGS 9.5 is definitely tough to get on some cards, while PSA can be easier. One of the major reasons is because BGS balances all categories (i.e. centering, surface, corners, and edges), while PSA gives more leniency if only 1 of the categories has a minor flaw. For example if a card had a 10 for 3 of the 4 categories and a 9 for the 4th category, then while PSA would give the card an overall grade of 10, BGS would give it either a 9 or 9.5 depending on the category. This is one major reason some people prefer BGS and others prefer PSA.
That doesn't completely explain why less than 1% of the cards graded by BGS have been given a grade of 9.5, compared to 30% of the cards graded by PSA getting a 10. However maybe if you look at the subgrades on BGS9s you might get more info (as there could be some common minor flaw on these cards that BGS notes, that PSA ignores).
All that being said, there is no way a BGS9.5 is worth 20x a PSA10 for any card. If you can buy a PSA10 for $20, then buy it. After all, grading is supposed to just give an unbiased opinion about the condition of the card, and you're paying for the card in that condition not simply the label of who graded the card.